Big Turnout Leads to Long Lines

As the tallying continued late into Tuesday evening at the Lauderdale County Courthouse, election officials say the big story of election 2011 was the turnout.

Some precincts reported bigger turnouts in this election than in the 2008 presidential election.

The large turnout was a problem in some precincts, as there were long lines at MSU-Meridian and the Frank Cochran Center.

As a result of the long waits for some voters, a law firm in Jackson has filed a suit against the Lauderdale County Circuit Clerk and Election Commission, stating that voters were discouraged to vote because of the long wait.

Commission officials say they did their best to prepare for the general election, but they could not add anymore electronic voting machines once the lines started to grow.

Casandra Sloan with the Lauderdale County Democratic Party was listed as one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit. We were not able to immediately get a comment from Sloan.

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